The Corsairs Sink at Homecoming

Homecoming 2018 brought the Corsairs their fourth huge loss of the season leaving the 3-4 in week 8.

Santa Monica College Corsairs hosted the Allen Hancock College Bulldogs (AHC) on Saturday night’s homecoming game at Corsair Field. The Bulldogs were coming off a four-game winning streak while the Corsairs had won the previous game in a tough fight in overtime against Los Angeles Harbor College. 

The Bulldogs received the ball to start the game. Freshman quarterback Steven Schouten (#4) started the game for AHC after losing their starter Thomas Carr (#7) to injury. On their opening drive, the Bulldogs found the end zone ,scoring the first of seven touchdowns on a five yard run by Sophomore Ryheem Skinner (#22). Skinner would finish the game with a total of 116 rushing yards and two touchdowns. 

From the first snap, the Corsairs’ rush defense was vulnerable, allowing the Bulldogs to enter the red zone on every offensive possession. The Bulldogs out-gained the Corsairs in rushing yards, 418 to 26. 

Offensively, the Corsairs couldn’t find the end zone. Corsair Sophomore quarterback Paul Davis (#8) wasn’t successful through the air. Davis only managed to pass for 90 yards. On the ground, Christoph Hirota (#5) managed to move the chains on a few plays but totaled just 32 yards.

The Corsairs went into halftime scoreless and struggling on both sides of field. The Bulldogs had taken a commanding 31-0 lead at the half. 

Davis and his offense got the ball to start the second half of the game. Their drive ended with Davis being sacked on third down and forced to punt it away on fourth down. 

The Bulldogs kept pounding on the ground via runs by Freshman Jayden Vargas (#1) and Sophomore Isaac Bausley (#27). They penetrated into the end zone after a 70 yard drive with a rushing touchdown by Bausley.

The Corsairs began their seventh offensive possession on a good note. Sophomore running back Trevor Nofoa (#23) opened the drive with a 17-yard carry. Davis led the way for the Corsairs into the red zone. However, disaster struck when Freshman Isiah Brown (#28) carried the ball intending for the end zone but fumbled it. The football rolled outside the end zone, resulting in a touchback. 

Fans shouted from the stands and teammates argued that Brown had broken the plane of the goal line, which should have resulted in a touchdown. The referees reviewed the play and concluded that Brown had in fact fumbled the ball prior to entering the plane, therefore the call stood. 

The Bulldogs showed no mercy and scored two more touchdowns on the ground before running out the clock in the final seconds of the game. 

The Corsairs finished the game with a small total of 116 yard, and one turnover. The final score was 52-0 in favor of Allen Hancock College. This loss is the fourth of the season for the Corsairs and stand now with a 3-4 season record. The Corsairs have been out scored by at least 50 points in all four of their losses. 

Head coach Kelly Ledwith said, “We made a lot of mistakes today, so we have to come in at practice this week and fix the mistakes and make the corrections I know we can make and set ourselves up to have a good week next week.” 

Only three games remain on the season for the Corsairs. They will be on the road next week to face off against Pasadena City College on Saturday, October 27.